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IONS.     II. 


Franklin  Society  Publications. 


A.PERS 


The  Fi-anklin  Society  of  the  City  <>f  Chicago  has  already  published,  in  beautiful 
style,  on  tinted  paper,  broad  margins,  limited  editions  of  the  following  papers  : 

I.  THE  PRINTER:    WHAT  HE  MIGHT  RE.     Read  before  the  Society 

Oct.  27,  1S69,  by  James  W.  Sheahan.    20  pp.     Price.  50  cents. 

This  paper,  with  the  exception  of  technical  and  similar  terms,  is  written  in  Anglo- 
S;ixon,  and  is  an  unique  sample  of  what  may  be  said  in  our  mother  tongue. 

II.  EARLY    NEWSPAPERS    IN    ILLINOIS.      Read  before  the  Society 

Jan.  20,  1S70,  by  Henkv  R.  Bos.s.    4Spp.     Price,  $1.00. 

Other  papers  are  already  prepared,  rr  in  course  of  preparation,  to  be  read  before 
thf  Society,  on  topics  connected  with  our  craft,  which  will  be  published  in  imlforni 
style  with  the  foregoing.     Among  the  contributions  promised  are  the  following : 

•'  History  of  the  Press  of  Lake  County,  Illinois." 

'*  History  of  Printers'  Unions  in  Chicago." 

•'  The  Old  Booksellers  of  Chicago." 

*'  History  of  the  Religious  Press  of  Illinois." 

As  but  limited  editions  of  these  publications  are  issued,  and  no  more  will  be 
printed,  early  application  should  be  made  in  order  to  secure  complete  sets. 

Copies  of  cHch  of  these  publications  will  be  sent,  free  of  postage,  on  receipt  of 
price.     Also,  for  sale  by  Marder,  Liise  &  Co.,  Rounds  &  James,  Western  News  Co., 
Callaghan   &  Cockcroft,  Keen  &  Cooke,  S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago;  Joel  Munsell 
Albany,  N.  Y.  Address 

FRANKLIN  SOCIETY, 

168  Soni/i  Clark  Street,  Chka^^o. 


Frkatum.  —  Page  32.  second  tine,  for  *'  Ferry  "  read  "  T 


)F   Chicago, 


TyHWERSr 


"erry." 


CHICAGO : 

PUBLISHED    BY   THE    FRANKLIN    SOCIETY. 
1S70. 


■■''  >l^;^>^ -^:'^; '  "■  ••  _ '  y  > '  ;r  ■  :^';dts^<vf''C^^'fi5^^^ 


FRANKLIN  SOCIETY  PUBLICATIONS.     II. 


EARLY    NEWSPAPERS 


IN    ILLINOIS: 


READ    BEFORE    THE 


pRANKLiN   Society   of   the    C^ty   of    C^^cago, 


HENRY     R.     BOSS, 

January  20,  1S70. 


^  Mr  vcjii^       , 

'tJHiVJeRsr 


CHICAGO : 

PUBLISHED    BY    THE    FRANKLIN    SOCIETY. 
1S70. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S70,  by  the 

Franklin  Society  of  the  City  of  Chicago, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Northern  District  of 

Illinois. 


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FRANKLIN   SOCIETY. 


Officers  for  1870-71. 


President: 

L.     B.    JAMESON. 

First  Vice-President  :  Second  Vice-President  : 

JOHN    M.    FARQ^UHAR.  M.    S.    P.    BOND. 

Recording  Secretary: 

JOHN    CONAHAN. 

Corresponding  Secretary; 

SYLVANUS    W.    FALLIS. 

Financial  Secretary: 

HENRY     R.     BOSS. 

Treasurer: 

A  .     P  .     L  U  S  E  . 

Managers  : 

JAMES  W.  SHEAHAN,  ISAAC  VV.  HENDERSON, 

FRANK  F.  BROWNE,  V.  B.  TRUAX, 

THOMAS  LUKE  McINTOSH,  M.  A.  WOODBURY. 

Librakian: 

A.     B.     CASE. 


FRANKLIN    SOCIETY    LIBRARY, 
168  South  Clark  St.,  Second  Floor. 


90284 


MEMBERS 


Henry  R.  Boss. 
A.  B.  Case. 
John  M.  FARqyuAR. 
E.  Colbert. 
J.  S.  Thompson. 
Samuel  E.  Pinta. 
Clarence  L.  Dennett. 
Chas.  W.  McCluer. 
Wm.  H.  Rand. 
Sterling  P.  Rounds. 
Sydney  H.  Gay. 
Hugh  A.  Murray. 
L.  B.  Jameson. 
Wm,  D.  Baker. 
Sylvanus  W.  Fallis. 
James  H.  King. 
Geo.  D.  Williston. 
A.  P.  Luse. 
Chas.  E.  Leonard. 
Geo.  p.  Upton. 
S.  V.  R.  HicKcox. 
James  Cockcroft. 
Joseph  Medill. 
Francis  A.  Eastman. 
Samuel  S.  Beach. 
James  F.  Ballantyne. 
John  Conahan. 
Alex.  Barnet. 
Wm.  Stapleton. 
Geo.  W.  McDonald. 
Wm.  Duffell. 
N.  B.  Barlow. 
Franc  B.  Wilkie. 
James  W.  Sheahan. 


LIFE. 
John  Harder. 

ACTIVE. 

George  W.  Taylor.  * 
V.  B.  Truax. 
Edw.  Vandenberg. 
Edw.  James. 
W.  L.  Fawcette. 
M.  S.  P.  Bond. 
V.  L.  Chandler. 
R.  R.  Donnelley. 
Alex.  T.  Loyd. 
James  Rattray. 
W.  W.  Corbett. 
Samuel  Simons. 
A.  Zeese. 
A.  W.  Hahn. 
G.  S.  Baldwin. 
John  R.  Walsh. 
Thos.  L.  McIntosh. 
Thos.  Parker. 

D.  E.  Peyton. 
J.  N.  Clarke. 

Isaac  W.  Henderson. 

A.  N.  Kellogg. 

W.  F.  Carroll. 

J.  Manz. 

Chas.  A.  Andrews. 

A.  B.  AuER. 

John  Waddington. 

E.  M.  Haines  (  Waukegan 
C.  E.  Wright. 
David  T.  Brock. 
Frank  Keifer. 
Matthew  Hill. 
Isaac  Walker. 
l.  f.  connell. 
Frank  C.  Whittier 


John  M.  Wing. 
A.  J.  Cox. 
Samuel  G.  Prince. 
Horace  White. 

C.  F.  Sheldon. 
James  H.  Goodsell. 
Th.  Gueroult. 

0.  s.  burdick. 

A.  W.  Webb. 

B.  P.  Reynolds. 
John  McDonald. 
John  Collins. 
A.  C.  G.  Maas. 

D.  W.  Page. 
Wm.  Bross. 
Chas.  H.  Ray. 

1.  c.  boudreau. 
Frank  F.  Browne. 
John  Buckie,  Jr. 
Jeriah  Bonham. 
N.  R.  Lyman. 
Geo.  M.  Darling. 
Arthur  Edwards. 
Chas.  J.  Burroughs. 
John  G.  Collins. 
Wm.  Pigott. 
Alfred  L.  Sewell. 

)P.  L.  Hanscom. 
James  O.  Brayman. 
Peter  Splithoff. 
John  C.  Shea. 
M.  A.  Woodbury. 
H.  V.  Reed. 
Chas.  Muller. 


C  ORRESPONDING. 
Eugene  H.  Munday,  Philadelphia,  Pa.     R.  A.  Mears,  London,  England. 
Robert  S.  Menamin,  "  E.  P.  W.\lton,  Montpelier,  Vt. 

Joel  Munsell,  Albany,  N.  Y.  John  W.  Southland,  London,  Eng. 

Alex.  Andrews,  London,  England. 

*  Deceased. 


PREFATORY. 


ARLY  in  1861  the  writer  essayed  to  collect  the 
materials  for  writing  the  history  of  the  News- 
paper Press  of  Illinois,  with  a  view  to  its  pub- 
lication in  book  form.  The  Chicago  Historical  Society 
generously  allowed  free  access  to  its  valuable  collection 
of  manuscripts,  and  many  friends  in  different  portions  of 
the  State  promptly  responded  to  the  request  for  informa- 
tion. In  this  manner,  and  by  persistent  correspondence, 
a  considerable  amount  of  material  was  gathered,  very 
nearly  all  of  which  has,  happily,  been  preserved  till  now. 
The  breaking  out  of  civil  war,  calling  men  to  the  making, 
rather  than  the  writing,  of  history,  and  the  pressure  of 
other  avocations,  effectually  interfered  with  the  proposed 
work,  and  the  design  was  abandoned.  Now,  however, 
when  the  formation  of  the  Franklin  Society  has 
brought  together  a  class  of  individuals  especially  inter- 


vi.  Prefatory. 

ested  in  the  subject,  it  seems  appropriate  to  put  these 
memoranda  in  proper  shape  to  constitute  a  contribution 
to  the  history  of  the  Fourth  Estate. 

No  one  can  more  fully  appreciate  or  more  regret  the 
fragmentary  character  and  incompleteness  of  this  paper 
than  myself;  but  it  is  believed  that  it  is  far  better  to 
preserve  these  details  in  this  manner  than  trust  any 
longer  to  the  chances  of  loss  or  destruction  of  the  memo- 
randa gathered  here.  The  fact  that  we  are  compelled  to 
speak  of  so  many  of  the  pioneer  editors  in  the  past  tense, 
as,  "  the  late  Hooper  Warren,"  etc.,  affords  another 
warning  to  collect  the  materials  for  the  history  of  our 
craft  before  all  opportunities  are  lost;  and  it  is  fervently 
hoped  that  the  present  effort  will  prove  an  additional 
incentive  to  some  one,  more  competent,  to  write  a  full 
history  of  Journalism  in  Illinois  and  the  United  States. 


cTNivERarrr 


EARLY   NEWSPAPERS. 


T  the  outset  of  our  discourse  we  are  compelled 
to  make  the  statement  that  no  record  exists 
which  gives  us  the  date  of  the  first  newspaper 
issued  in  what  is  now  the  great  State  of  IlHnois.  Certain 
it  is,  that  in  the  year  1814  or  1815  a  newspaper  —  the 
first  in  the  State  —  was  issued  at  Kaskaskia,  Randolph 
County,  by  Matthew  Duncan,  a  brother  of  the  late  Gov. 
Duncan.  This  paper,  it  is  asserted,  was  named  the 
Illinois  Intelligencer;  but  the  late  Robert  Blackwell, 
himself  one  of  the  pioneer  editors  of  the  State,  asserts 
that  it  was  named  the  Statesman.  On  this  subject,  the 
late  Hooper  Warren,  a  careful  and  painstaking  editor, 
wrote,  under  date  of  March  26,  1861: 

"  That  paper"  (the  Intelligc7tccr),  "  under  that  title,  I  believe  to 
be  the  first  regularly  issued  newspaper  in  Illinois.  None  of  the  first 
settlers,  such  as  Gov.  Edwards,  Mr.  Cook,  Mr.  Messinger  and  dozens 
of  others,  who  appeared  to  be  intent  on  telling  me  all  they  knew, 
ever  mentioned  to  me  the  name  of  any  other  paper  previous  to  that. 
Joseph  Charless,  who  established  the  Missouri  Gazette  at  St.  Louis 
in   1S07,  and  who  was  very  communicative  to   me    of   his  editorial 


8  Early  JVeivspapers  in  Illinois. 

experience,  never  mentioned  the  name  of  any  other  paper  in  Illinois 
until  iSiS.  George  Ciuirchill,  who  came  to  Illinois  the  year  before  I 
did,  says  he  never  heard  of  any  other  paper  before  the  Intelligeitcer. 
W.  H.  Brown's  Herald  and  Mr.  Blackvvell's  Statesman,  I  suspect,, 
were  nothing  more  than  quarter  or  half-sheet  handbills,  irregularly 
issued.  Otherwise,  the  old  pioneer  settlers  heretofore  mentioned 
would  have  had  something  to  say  about  them." 

Mr.  Warren  adds: 

"  I  think  Gov.  Reynolds  makes  a  great  mistake  in  regard  to 
Matthew  Duncan  bringing  his  j^ress  to  Illinois  in  1S09.  That  was 
the  year  in  which  the  Territorial  Government  was  formed  —  it  being 
in  the  first  grade,  the  Governor  and  Judges  making  the  laws  the  first 
three  years.  When  I  established  myself  at  Edwardsville,  in  1S19, 
Gov.  Edwards  would  speak  to  me  of  his  employing  Mr.  Charless, 
of  the  Missouri  Gazette,  to  do  public  printing,  and  would  compare 
his  prices  with  mine,  as  I  was  then  doing  it.  I  also  heard  Mr.  Charless 
speak  of  doing  Territorial  work  for  Gov.  Edwards.  So  I  am  led 
to  believe  that  Matthew  Duncan  did  not  bring  his  press  to  Illinois  until 
several  years  after  Gov.  Edwards  came  and  organized  the  Territorial 
Government." 

The  Chicago  Historical  Society's  collections  contain 
a  file  of  the  Illinois  Intelligencer,  commencing  with 
Vol.  V,  No.  8,  which  was  dated  Saturday,  December  23, 
1820,  and  "published  by  Brown  &  Berry,  Printers  for  the 
State."  If  the  paper  had  been  published  without  inter- 
ruption from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  this  would  fix  the 
date  of  its  first  issue  at  November  9,  18 16.  As,  how- 
ever, country  newspapers  were  then,  even  more  than 
now,  subject  to  mischances  which  prevented  their  regular 
appearance,  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  first 
Illinois  newspaper  was  issued  at  an  earlier  date.  The 
late  Hon.  W.  H.  Brown,  of  this  city,  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  Historical  Society  in  i860,  asserted  it  as  certain 


The  Illinois  Intelligencer.  g 

that  in  1814  Matthew  Duncan  had  a  press  at  Kaskaskia, 
the  then  seat  of  government,  and  issued  a  weekly  news- 
paper called  the  Illinois  Herald*      Mr.  Brown  adds: 

"Mr.  Duncan  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  .brought  his  press 
and  types  with  him  upon  his  removal  to  Illinois.  It  was,  apparently,  a 
bold  experiment  to  have  entered  upon  the  publication  of  a  newspaper 
at  that  early  day.  In  iSio,  when  the  census  was  taken,  there  appears 
to  have  been  but  a  fraction  over  1 2,cxx)  inhabitants,  and  the  year  pre- 
ceding the  war  (181 1)  marked  by  the  restless  and  semi-hostile  state 
of  the  Indian  tribes,  and  the  three  years  of  direct  hostilities,  must  have 
so  deterred  immigration  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  natural 
increase,  the  population  of  1815  could  hardly  have  exceeded  that  of 
1810.  Madison  County,  on  the  north  and  west,  was  composed  of 
frontier  settlements.  All  the  population  of  the  Territory  was  south 
of  the  township  line  of  5  north  of  the  third  principal  meridian,  running 
east  to  the  Ohio  and  Wabash  rivers.  Kaskaskia  and  Belleville  were 
the  principal  towns  on  the  western  side  of  the  State,  the  former  con- 
taining a  population  (two-thirds  of  whom  were  native  French)  of 
from  six  to  eight  hundred,  and  the  latter  about  two  hundred  ;  and 
Shawneetown,  on  the  Ohio  river,  with  rather  a  larger  population,  then 
the  county  town  of  St.  Clair.  The  settlements  were  altogether  confined 
to  the  timbered  land  skirting  the  various  water-courses,  leaving  large 
intervening  prairies  wholly  unoccupied.  Our  early  inhabitants,  like 
all  pioneers,  were  not  a  reading  population  —  indeed,  quite  too  large 
a  proportion  of  them  could  not  read  at  all  —  and,  as  there  were  scarcely 
any  mail  facilities,  very  little,  if  any,  profit  could  have  been  anticipated 
from  the  publication  of  a  weekly  newspaper.  In  1820,  the  list  of  the 
subscribers  to  the  Intellig'encer,  which  succeeded  the  Herald,  did  not 
exceed  five  hundred,  and  it  is  therefore  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Mr.  Duncan's  list  did  not  exceed  three  hundred.     The  Herald  was 

*  Mr.  Blackwell  says  Matthew  Duncan  continued  the  publication  of  the 
'pa.'p^r  for  several  years,  and  in  1816  it  was  purchased  by  D.  P.  Cook,  Esq., 
and  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year  he  (Blackwell)  came  to  the  Territory  and 
purchased  half  of  it,  and  the  paper  was  published  by  Cook  &  Blackwell  for  one 
or  two  years,  until  Mr.  Cook  was  elected  Attorney  General  of  the  Territory. 
The  firm  was  changed  to  Blackwell  &  Berry  in  1818,  at  which  time  Mr.  Black- 
well  was  Territorial  Auditor.  The  printing  of  the  convention  of  1818  was 
executed  by  them.  It  is  in  honor  of  the  above  Mr.  Cook  that  Cook  County  is 
so  named. 


lo  Early  Newspapers  in   Illinois. 

printed  upon  a  sheet  of  i8  by  22  inches,  and  aflbrded  to  subscribers  at 
$3  per  annum  if  paid  in  advance,  or  $4  at  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
printed  matter,  with  its  large  type  and  disphiyed  advertisements,  con- 
sisting mainly  of  legal  notices  and  estray  animals,  niiglit  be  easily  com- 
pressed into  three  or  four  columns  of  our  modern  daily  papers. 
*  *  *  It  was  before  the  day  of  telegrams,  railroads,  or  even  stage 
coaches.  The  duties  of  an  editor  were  not  onerous.  No  leaders  were 
expected  or  required.  The  readers  of  the  Herald  or  the  Intelligencer 
were  neither  fastidious  or  critical,  or  at  all  particular  as  to  the  manner 
of  the  'getting  up'  of  the  hebdomadal  sheet  for  their  weekly  repast. 
As  the  advertising  patronage  was  limited,  and  the  circulation  small, 
the  newspaper  itself  must  have  been  a  losing  concern,  and  even  up  to 
1837 —  I  speak  from  experience  —  the  newspaper  barely  paid  expenses. 
The  Territorial  and  State  patronage,  however,  and  the  liberal  price 
paid  for  the  public  printing,  not  only  sustained  the  office,  but  aflbrded 
a  fair  remuneration  for  the  capital  invested." 

Col.  Elijah  C.  Berry,  the  first  of  our  State  Auditors, 
and  also  a  native  of  Kentucky,*  purchased  the  office  and 
paper  of  Mr.  Duncan,  and,  according  to  Mr.  Brown's 
statement,  changed  its  name  to  the  Illinois  Intelli- 
gencer, and  enlarged  its  size  to  20  by  25  inches.  This 
transfer  was  probably  made  in  October,  1815.  The  late 
Daniel  P.  Cook  and  Mr.  Robert  Blackwell  had  an  interest 
in  the  paper  in  18 17,  and  in  the  following  year  it  was 
jointly  owned  by  Mr.  Blackwell  and  William  Berry,  a 
brother  of  the  Auditor. 

The  seat  of  government  was  removed  to  Vandalia  in 
1820,  and  the  Intelligencer  followed  the  public  offices 
in  their  migration.  In  the  winter  of  1820,  Hon.  W.  H. 
Brown  purchased  the  interest  of  Robert  Blackwell  in  the 
paper,  his  salutatory  appearing  in  the  issue  of  Dec.  23. 

*  Mr.  Berry  was  publishing   The  Correspondent,  at  Louisville,  in   1817,  and 
sold  out  that  paper  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year. 


The  First  Printing  Office.  ii 

Mr.  Brown's  description  of  the  condition  of  the  office 
at  the  time  of  his  purchase  is  of  interest  to  all  of  us  at 
this  time.     He  says: 

"  The  material  of  the  office  consisted  of  an  old,  dilapidated  press, 
nearly  similar  in-  form  and  construction  to  that  of  Franklin  now  on 
exhibition  at  the  Patent  Office  at  Washington,  but  about  one  size 
larger.  It  worked  off  a  form  of  20  by  25  inches,  or  a  sheet  somewhat 
larger  than  is  used  for  octavo  book  printing.  The  type,  when  brought 
to  Kaskaskia,  had  doubtless  performed  severe  duty  in  some  interior 
Kentucky  office,  and  was  justly  entitled  to  an  honorable  discharge. 
There  were  but  two  varieties — a  respectable  font  of  Small  Pica  and  a 
small  one  of  Minion.  These  were  used  for  the  newspaper  and  the 
laws  and  journals,  oftentimes  causing  the  delay  of  a  partially  composed 
form,  until  matter  from  other  forms  could  be  distributed.*  The  printing 
ink  in  use  was  an  impromptu  work  of  one  of  the  printers,  from  oil  and 
lampblack  inartistically  combined,  producing  rather  a  dingy  blue  than 
a  fair  black  color.  The  office  was  an  open  log  building,  one  story 
high,  with  a  roof  of  clapboai-ds  held  in  place  by  longitudinal  weight- 
poles.  Its  ventilation  was  perfect,  except  when  the  thermometer  indi- 
cated severe  freezing  weather.  At  such  times  there  was  a  cessation 
of  business,  and  the  printers  became  gentlemen  of  leisure,  until,  by  a 
prodigal  use  of  fLiel,  a  general  thaw  throughout  the  office  took  place. 
In  1S21,  very  important  changes  were  made.  The  printing  establish- 
ment was  moved  into  a  better  building,  the  old  press  was  laid  aside, 
and  the  worn-out  type  sent  to  the  foimdry." 

Early  in  the  Legislative  session  of  1822-3,  the  famous 
"Convention  resolutions"  were  introduced.  Mr.  Berry 
was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  in  favor  of  the 
resolutions,  and  Mr.  Brown  was  opposed  to  them.  This 
led  to  a  disagreement  between  the  partners,  when  the  last 
named  withdrew  from  the  paper,  which  then  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  pro-slavery  party,  Robert  Blackwell  being 

^  *  Hon.  Sidney  Breese,  one  of  the  Siipienie  Court  Judges  of  this  State,  on  one 
occasion,  when  work  was  ''crowding"  and  workmen  were  scarce  in  the  office 
where  "  Breese's  Reports  "  were  being  printed,  phiced  a  portion  of  one  volume 
in  type,  '■  studying"  the  case  till  he  found  tlie  sorts  required. 


12  Early  Neivspapers  in  Illinois. 

associated  with  Mr.  Berry.  A  year  later,  the  latter  failed, 
and  David  Blackwell  purchased  his  interest  in  the  paper, 
and  at  once  turned  its  batteries  against  the  Conventionists 
and  in  favor  of  free  soil.  In  1826  or  '27,  Mr.  Brown 
again  became  a  partner  in  the  paper,  which  he  conducted 
for  about  two  years,  when  he  made  way  for  the  late 
Judge  James  Hall. 

In  March,  1832,  we  find  the  Vandalia  Whig  and 
Jllinois  Intelligencer,  new  series — which  was,  in  reality, 
a  continuation  of  the  Intelligencer — by  Meinrad  Greiner, 
continued  by  Greiner  &  Sherman,  and  subsequently  by 
S.  C.  Sherman. 

The  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Springfield 
in  1839,  and  the  consequent  withdrawal  of  State  patron- 
age, occasioned  the  discontinuance  of  the  publication  of 
the  Illinois  Intelligencer,  and,  after  an  existence  of 
twenty-one  years,  it  ceased  to  live. 

The  second  newspaper  established  in  Illinois  was  the 
Illinois  Emigrant,  at  Shawneetown,  Gallatin  County,  by 
Henry  Eddy  and  Singleton  H.  Kimmel,  the  first  number 
of  which  was  issued  in  the  fall  of  18 18.  The  title  was 
afterward  *  changed  to  Illinois  Gazette,  when  Mr.  Kim- 
mel gave  place  to  Judge  Hall.  At  the  time  of  its  estab- 
lishment the  celebrated  salt  springs  in  that  vicinity  were 
in  operation,  attracting  thither  a  ckss  of  business  men  not 
found  in  any  other  part  of  the  State.  The  Gazette  sup- 
ported the  Convention  or  pro-slavery  party.  It  was 
printed  on  a  sheet  18  by  22  inches,  and  in  point  of  typo- 

*  Hooper  Warren  says  it  was  "  some  years  "  afterward,  while  W.  H.  Brow^ 
says  it  is  certain  that  in  the  year  1820  Hall  &  Eddy  were  the  editors  and 
proprietors. 


The  Ed-wardsville  Spectator.  13 

graphical  execution  surpassed  its  elder  neighbor  at 
Kaskaskia.  In  the  fall  of  1822  Judge  Hall  ostensibly 
withdrew  from  the  paper,  though  most  of  its  subsequent 
editorials  on  the  Convention  question,  during  the  struggle 
of  1822-4,  were  attributed  to  him. 

The  third  Illinois  newspaper,  in  point  of  time,  was  the 
Edivardsville  Spectator,  established  by  the  late  Hooper 
Warren,  in  May,  18 19,  at  Edwardsville,  Madison  County. 
Mr.  Warren  published  this  paper  for  six  years,  when  he 
transferred  it  to  Thomas  Lippincott,  who  afterward 
became  a  clergyman,  and  Jeremiah  Abbott,  a  practical 
printer.  These  gentlemen  continued  to  publish  the 
Spectator  imtil  Mr.  Lippincott's  entrance  into  the 
ministry,  when  it  was  discontinued. 

Mr.  Warren  deserves  especial  mention  here,  and  we 
take  pleasure  in  quoting  the  following  from  one  of  his 
cotemporaries :  * 

"  Mr.  Warren  was  a  practical  printer,  industrious  and  energetic. 
He  spared  no  pains  to  carry  out  liis  original  design,  and  was  eminently 
successful.  His  paper  was  decidedly  the  best  of  its  cotemporaries, 
and  exerted  a  far  greater  influence.  Under  all  circumstances,  Mr. 
Warren  maintamed  an  independence  of  thought  and  speech,  and  failed 
not  strongly  to  impress  »ipon  his  readers  his  own  sentiments  of  right 
and  duty,  however  unpalatable  or  unpopular.  He  was  a  strong  and 
ready  writer  —  or  rather  composer,  for  it  is  said  that  his  editorial 
articles  came  direct  from  his  mind  into  his  composing-stick  —  seizing 
the  strong  points  of  an  argument  and  presenting  them  with  great  force. 
From  the  commencement  of  the  paper,  it  assumed  strong  anti-slavery 
ground,  yielding  neither  to  intimidations  or  brute  force,  the  former  very 
frequent,  and  the  latter  used  in  a  few  instances  where  Mr.  Warren's 
stubborn  facts  could  not  be  controverted  or  his  arguments  answered. 
It  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its  way  until  the  spring  of  1823,  when  it 
was  adopted  as  the  organ  of  the  Anti-Coiiventionists,  and  considerable 

*  Hon.  W.  II.  Brown. 


14  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

money  was  raised  to  extend  its  circulation.  Mr.  Warren  entered  the 
contest  with  alacrity  and  zeal.  He  now  occupied  a  position  which,  of 
all  others,  he  would  have  chosen.  His  whole  soul  was  enlisted  in  the 
work.  The  great  principle  of  universal  liberty  was  the  one  for  which 
he  had  ever  contended,  and  he  could  not  for  a  moment  entertain  the 
idea  that  our  fair  and  beautiful  plains  should  ever  be  blighted  by  the 
curse  of  slavery.  The  Spectator  was  the  great  engine  in  the  contest, 
and  was  found  in  every  settlement."* 

Having  given  this  brief  sketch  of  the  first  three  news- 
papers established  in  Illinois,  we  will  now  briefly  note 
the  memoranda  in  our  possession  respecting  the  local 
press  in  various  counties  in  the  State,  regretting  our 
inability  to  give  them  in  more  extended  form. 

ADAMS  COUNTY. 

The  ^uincy  Argus  and  Bounty  Land  Register  was 
commenced  in  1835,  by  John  H.  Pettit  &  Co. 

*  Mr.  Warren  commenced  the  Sangamo  Spectator,  at  Springfield,  February, 
1819,  which  he  continued  one  year.  He  established  the  Galena  Advertiser  and 
Upper  Mississippi  Herald,  at  Galena,  under  the  firm  of  Newhall,  Philleo  &  Co., 
in  1829.  In  1836  he  established  the  Commercial  Advertiser,  at  Chicago,  and  con- 
ducted it  for  about  one  year.  In  1841,  in  company  with  Z.  Eastman,  he  estab- 
lished the  Genius  of  Liberty,  at  Lowell,  La  Salle  County,  and  continued  it  one 
year,  when  the  establishment  was  removed  to  Chicago  and  conducted  by  Mr. 
Eastman,  under  the  name  of  the  Western  Citizen.  In  1851,  Mr.  Warren  leased 
for  one  year  the  press  and  type  of  the  Bureau  Advocate,  at  Princeton,  and  pub- 
lished that  piiper  during  the  time.  From  1852  to  1855,  he  was  associate  editor 
with  Mr.  Eastman,  in  Chicago,  in  the  Western  Citizen  and  Free  West.  Mr. 
Warren  sadly  writes:  "You  will  see  my  editorial  experience  has  been  a  succes- 
sion of  failures,  but  most  of  the  pioneer  editors  can  say  the  same."  Yet  it  is 
seldom  that  an  editor  closes  his  life  with  the  clear  assurance  of  so  deep  and 
enduring  influence  for  good  as  did  Mr.  Warren.  He  died  at  Mendota,  111., 
August  22,  1864,  on  his  return  home  from  a  visit  to  Chicago,  at  the  age  of  74 
years.  He  was  born  at  Walpole,  N.  H.,  May  4,  1790,  and  served  his  apprentice- 
ship as  a  printer  in  the  office  of  the  Rutland  (Vt.)  Herald.  He  was  buried  at 
Henry,  Marshall  County,  111.,  which  had  for  some  years  been  his  place  of 
residence,  and  where  his  son,  John  A.  Warren,  Esq.,  is  now  Postmaster. 


Cook    County.  15 

BUREAU   COUNTY. 

George  Churchill,  Esq.,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  says  that  the  Bureau  Advo- 
cate—  Hooper  Warren,  editor  —  was  commenced  about 
the  year  1848.  This  establishment,  as  before  noted,  was 
leased  by  Mr.  Warren,  in  185 1,  for  one  year,  which  was 
his  sole  connection  with  it. 

COOK  COUNTY. 

We  have  no  disposition  to  give  any  extended  notice 
of  the  press  in  this  county,  as  it  is  a  subject  which  of 
itself  would  require  a  lengthy  article,  which  we  hope  may 
at  an  early  day  be  furnished  by  a  member  of  this  Society. 
We  will  only  append  the  following: 

The  first  number  of  the  Chicago  Democrat,  the  first 
newspaper  in  Cook  County  or  Northern  Illinois,  was 
issued  on  the  26th  of  November,  1833,  by  John  Calhoun. 
Two  years  later,  Mr.  Calhoun  sold  the  Democrat  to 
"  Long  John  "  Wentworth,  who  continued  its  publication 
without  intermission  until  1861,  when  its  subscription  and 
advertising  lists  were  transferred  to  the  Daily  Tribune, 
and  the  Democrat  ceased  to  exist.  Mr.  Wentworth  now 
finds  more  congenial  employment  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
"  Summit  Farm,"  having  held  the  helm  of  a  single  news- 
paper for  a  much  longer  term  than  is  often  the  case 
among  the  fraternity. 

The  Commercial  Advertiser  was  commenced  by 
Hooper  Warren,  October  11,  1836,  who  continued  it  for 
about  a  year. 


i6  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

The  Union  Agriculturist  and  Prairie  Farmer  — 
which  name  was  afterward  abridged  to  Prairie  Farmer 
—  was  commenced  January  i,  1841.  It  was  at  first  edited 
by  John  S.  Wright,  next  by  Wright  &  Wight,  and  then 
by  Ambrose  Wight.     It  still  holds  a  prosperous  career. 

FAYETTE   COUNTY. 

We  have  already  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Illinois 
Intelligencer,  which  was  removed  to  Vandalia  with  the 
seat  of  government,  in  1820. 

The  Illinois  Advocate,  by  John  York  Sawyer,  who 
had  been  elected  State  Printer,  was  removed  from 
Edwardsville  to  Vandalia  in  December,  1832,  and  its  first 
issue  at  the  latter  place  appeared  on  the  5th  of  January, 
1833.  It  was  continued  till  the  4th  of  April,  1836,  when 
it  was  succeeded  by  the  Illinois  State  Register,  of 
which  more  hereafter. 

The  Vandalia  Free  Press  and  Illinois  Whig,  by 
Colonel  Wm.  Hodge,  was  established  at  Vandalia  about 
the  year  1836,  and  continued  several  years. 

The  Illinois  Magazine  was  started  at  Vandalia,  in 
December,  1830,  and  Judge  Hall  became  its  editor. 
Among  the  contributors  to  this  magazine  were  Salmon 
P.  (now  Chief  Justice)  Chase  and  Rev.  James  H.  Perkins, 
but  the  editor  was  the  principal  writer.  In  1833  Judge 
Hall  removed  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  conducted  the 
Western  Monthly  until  1837.  He  died  in  Cincinnati 
early  in  July,  1868. 


Franklin   County.  17 

FRANKLIN   COUNTY. 

The  first  number  of  the  Benton  Standard,  a  Demo- 
cratic journal,  was  issued  in  December,  1849,  but  dated 
January  4,  1850.  It  was  edited  by  Ira  Van  Nortwick. 
In  March,  1850,  Edward  V.  Pierce  assumed  control  of  the 
paper,  and  about  the  ist  of  June  following  associated  with 
him  John  G.  Goessman.  In  September,  185 1,  Mr.  Pierce 
sold  his  interest  in  the  paper  to  his  partner,  though  he  still 
continued  to  write  for  it.  Up  to  this  date  the  citizens  of 
Benton  had  owned  the  press  and  materials,  the  publishers 
paying  a  yearly  rental  of  $100.  Mr.  Goessman  soon 
associated  with  him  James  Macklin,  the  partnership  con- 
tinuing a  year  or  two,  when  Mr.  Macklin  retired,  and  Mr. 
Goessman  purchased  the  materials.  He  continued  the 
publication  of  the  Standard  until  his  death,  in  June, 
1857.  Mr.  Pierce  again  became  editor  and  publisher, 
which  place  he  held  until  March,  1858,  when  he  sold  the 
office  to  Hassett  &  Outten,  who  changed  the  name  to 
Benton  Plaindealer.  Six  months  later  these  gentlemen 
removed  the  concern  to  Du  Quoin,  Perry  County,  estab- 
lishing the  Du  ^uoin  Republican,  and  advocating  the 
election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  United  States  Senator. 

In  the  spring  of  i860,  A.  &  G.  Sellers  established  a 
Democratic  journal  entitled  the  Benton  Democrat.  On 
the  29th  of  August  following,  they  changed  their  colors, 
and  hoisted  the  names  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin.  When 
about  twenty  copies  of  that  issue  were  printed,  "  the 
citizens  stopped  them  issuing  any  more,  and  bought  them 
out."  The  citizens  conducted  the  paper  for  a  few  weeks, 
when  it  was  purchased  by  G.  N.  Richards,  who  continued 
it  as  a  Democratic  journal,  without  change  of  title. 
3 


1 8  Early  Newspapers  in  Illitiois. 

FULTON   COUNTY. 

The  Canton  Herald  was  commenced  at  Canton,  by 
P.  Stone,  in  January,  1838. 

HANCOCK  COUNTY. 

The  first  number  of  the  Carthagenian,  the  earliest 
newspaper  in  this  county,  was  issued  at  Carthage,  in 
June,  1836,  under  the  auspices  of  an  association,  by 
Th.  Gregg,  editor  and  printer.  It  was  suspended  in  the 
spring  following,  when  the  materials  were  removed  to 
Fort  Des  Moines,  Wisconsin  Territory  (now  Montrose, 
Iowa) . 

In  the  fall  of  1836,  a  campaign  paper,  called  The 
Echo,  advocating  the  election  of  General  Harrison,  was 
issued  from  the  office  of  the  Carthagenian. 

In  the  fall  of  1839,  the  Mormons  commenced,  at 
Nauvoo,  the  famous  Times  and  Seasons,  a  small  octavo 
monthly,  Don  Carlos  Smith  (brother  of  the  Prophet)  and 
Ebenezer  Robinson,  editors  and  proprietors. 

In  the  spring  of  1840,  David  N.  White,  before  and 
since  editor  of  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  commenced,  at 
Warsaw,  the  publication  of  the  Western  World,  a  Whig 
paper.  Six  months  afterward  it  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Thomas  C.  Sharp,  and  at  the  end  of  the  volume  was 
changed  to  the  Warsaw  Signal,  under  which  title  and 
editor  it  continued,  with  some  partnership  changes,  to  the 
spring  of  1847,  with  the  exception  of  one  year  (1843), 
when  the  office  was  in  the  hands  of  Th.  Gregg,  who 
issued  the  Warsaw  Message. 


The  Mormon  Press.  19 

In  1842,  William  Smith,  another  brother  of  the 
Prophet,  issued,  at  the  Times  and  Seasons  office, 
Nauvoo,  a  small  weekly  newspaper,  called  The  Wasp. 
This  was  soon  after  enlarged,  and  called  the  Nauvoo 
Neighbor,  by  John  Taylor,  one  of  the  Prophet's 
Twelve  Apostles. 

In  the  spring  of  1844,  dissensions  arose  among  the 
Latter-Day  Saints,  and  the  Nauvoo  Expositor,  estab- 
lished for  the  avowed  purpose  of  exposing  the  enormities 
charged  upon  the  Mormon  leaders,  was  issued  by  William 
Law,  Wilson  Law,  Robert  D.  Foster,  Charles  Foster, 
Francis  M.  and  Chauncey  S.  Higbee,  and  conducted  by 
Sylvester  Emmans.  Only  one  number  was  issued,  as  the 
press  was  declared  a  nuisance  by  the  City  Council,  and 
the  materials  and  press  burned  and  destroyed  by  the  City 
Marshal,  on  the  loth  of  May,  1844.  It  was  during  the 
troubles  which  grew  out  of  this  offence  that  the  Prophet 
Smith  lost  his  life,  on  the  24th  of  the  following  month. 

In  the  spring  of  1846,  the  Mormons  procured  the 
services  of  a  Mr.  Matlack,  a  Gentile,  who  took  charge  of 
the  Neighbor  office,  changed  the  title  to  that  of  the 
Hancock  Eagle,  and  for  a  short  period  published  a  very 
able  and  spirited  Democratic  paper.  The  death  of 
Matlack,  and  the  removal  of  the  great  body  of  the  Mor- 
mons, in  1846-7,  terminated  the  career  of  Mormon  papers 
in  Hancock  County. 

About  this  time  an  Anti-Mormon  paper  was  started, 
called  the  New  Citizen.  The  office  soon  after  passed 
into  the  hands  of  James  McKee,  who  published,  until 
1850,  the  Hancock  Patriot. 


20  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

In  the  spring  of  1847,  the  Warsaw  Signal  again 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Gregg,  who  continued  it  as 
a  Whig  journal  until  1850,  when  the  office  was  purchased 
by  Mr.  McKee,  who  established  in  its  stead  the  Warsaw 
Commercial  yournal.     This  lived  about  three  years. 

In  1 85 1  the  Signal  was  resuscitated  by  Mr.  Gregg, 
and  issued  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Sharp,  who  purchased  a  new  office,  and 
issued  a  new  paper,  the  Warsaw  Weekly  Express.  The 
Express  underwent  various  mutations,  and  was  finally 
discontinued  in  1854. 

About  this  time  the  Hancock  Democrat  was  com- 
menced at  La  Harpe.  This  was  short-lived,  and  after  a 
few  months  was  transferred  to  Carthage,  where  it  was 
conducted  by  Child  &  Marrier,  and  afterward  by  G.  M, 
Child,  as  the  Carthage  Republican.  It  was  at  first 
American,  but  afterward  Democratic,  in  politics. 

In  1855  W.  K.  Davison  and  John  F.  Howe  com- 
menced, at  Warsaw,  the  Warsaw  Weekly  Bulletin, 
Republican  in  politics,  which,  in  i860,  was  published 
both  daily  and  weekly,  being  the  first  daily  sheet  issued 
in  the  county. 

About  1849  or  1850,  the  French  Icarian  Community 
settled  at  Warsaw,  and  for  several  years  issued  a  Com- 
munist sheet,  the  Popular  Tribune,  M.  Cabet,  their 
leader,  being  its  chief  conductor. 

In  1856,  Mr.  L.  S.  Grove  started  a  new  paper  at 
Augusta,  the  Augusta  Times,  which  lived  about  a  year. 

In  the  following  spring,  the  citizens  of  Plymouth 
organized  a  stock  company,  hired  Mr.  Gregg  as  editor, 
and  commenced  the  Plymouth  Locomotive,  which  sus- 
pended in  1858. 


Jo  Daviess   County.  21 

During  the  year  i860,  there  were  six  newspapers 
being  published  in  Hancock  County  —  the  Warsaw  Bul- 
letin, Carthage  Re-publican,  Nauvoo  Democratic  Press, 
Dallas  City  Star  of  Dallas,  Hamilton  Representative, 
and  Carthage  Transcript.  On  the  ist  of  January,  1861, 
all  save  the  Bulletin  and  Republican  had  suspended. 
From  1836  to  i860  twenty-four  publications  had  been 
commenced  in  Hancock  County,  twenty-two  of  which 
had  expired. 

Previous  to  the  establishment  of  newspapers  in  the 
county,  the  journals  most  widely  circulated  there  were 
the  Bounty  Land  Register,  published  at  Quincy,  by 
Judge  Young,  since  United  States  Senator;  the  Sangamo 
Journal,  now  the  Illinois  State  Journal,  published  at 
Springfield,  by  Simeon  Francis;  and  the  Missouri 
Republican. 

JERSEY  COUNTY. 

The  Back-woodsman,  edited  by  John  Russell,  of  Bluft- 
dale,  was  commenced  at  Grafton,  in  1837.  Jersey  County 
at  that  time  formed  a  part  of  Green  County. 

JO  DAVIESS  COUNTY. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1828,  James  Jones  issued  the  first 
newspaper  in  Jo  Daviess  County  —  which  had  been 
organized  in  1827,  and  then  included  the  territory 
embraced  in  the  present  counties  of  Jo  Daviess,  Stephen- 
son, Carroll,  Ogle,  Lee,  Whiteside,  parts  of  Rock  Island 
and  Winnebago,  and  perhaps  of  Rock  Island  and  Boone 
—  and  called  it  the  Miners''  Journal.  In  1829,  Mr. 
Jones  associated  with  him,  as  editor,  Thomas  Ford,  after- 


22  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

ward  elected  Governor.  The  Journal  died  out  in  1832, 
and  Mr.  Jones  subsequently  published  at  his  press  a  form 
book,  of  his  own  compilation,  which  he  sold  throughout 
the  State. 

Jones'  establishment  was  purchased  by  Dr.  Philleo,  in 
1832,  who  began  the  publication  of  the  Galenian. 

In  the  spring  of  1829,  Hooper  Warren  started  the 
second  paper  at  Galena,  under  the  firm  of  Newhall, 
Philleo  &  Co.,  called  the  Galena  Advertiser  and  Upper 
Mississippi  Herald,  in  the  interest  of  John  Reynolds  as 
a  candidate  for  Governor.  The  Galena  Advertiser 
(now  Galena  Gazette,  published  daily  and  weekly),  was 
for  nearly  thirty  years  edited  and  published  by  H.  H. 
Houghton,  now  occupying  a  diplomatic  position,  in  the 
service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  who  is  probably  the  oldest  Illinois  editor  now  living. 

[It  is  our  impression  that  the  Northwestern  Gazette 
and  Galena  Advertiser — begun  by  Loring  &  Bartlett, 
in  November,  1834  —  was  the  successor  of  both  the 
Galenian  and  the  Advertiser  and  Herald.  Until  some 
time  after  Mr.  Houghton  severed  his  connection  with  the 
paper,  the  weekly  edition  bore  the  title  of  Northwestern 
Gazette,  while  the  daily  edition  was  called  the  Galena 
Advertiser^ 

The  Galena  Courier,  a  Democratic  journal,  daily, 
tri-weekly  and  weekly,  was  established  in  January,  1856, 
by  L.  F.  Leal  and  H.  G.  Crouch,  both  gentlemen  from 
Central  New  York.  On  the  morning  of  the  ist  of  April 
following,  the  entire  establishment  was  destroyed  by  fire. 
The  daily  was  then  issued  as  a  half  sheet  until  the  arrival 
of  new  materials,   in    May,   enabled    the    proprietors    to 


Kane  County.  23 

resume  full  operations.  In  April,  1859,  Mr.  Crouch  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  to  his  partner  and  returned  to  New 
York,  Mr.  Leal  continuing  the  publication  of  the  Courier. 

KANE   COUNTY. 

The  first  newspaper  in  Geneva,  the  county  seat,  was 
printed  in  the  winter  of  1845-6,  by  Robert  J.  Thomas  and 
H.  Hough,  and  was  called  the  Fox  River  Advocate.  It 
was  continued  for  only  a  few  months,  when  its  publica- 
tion was  temporarily  suspended.  It  was  afterward  revived 
by  Mr.  Hough,  under  the  title  of  Star  of  the  West,  of 
which,  however,  only  two  issues  were  printed.  In  the 
spring  of  1847,  the  material  of  the  office  was  purchased 
by  Messrs.  Wilson  &  Cockroft,  who,  on  the  ist  of  April, 
issued  the  first  number  of  the  Western  Mercury.  About 
three  months  later,  the  materials  of  the  Prairie  Messenger, 
printed  at  St.  Charles,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  above 
firm,  who  continued  the  Mercury,  for  four  years,  through 
very  "  hard  times,"  when  it  succumbed,  for  lack  of  sup- 
port. In  January,  1856,  the  same  firm,  w^ho  had  mean- 
while continued  a  book  and  job  printing  business,  estab- 
lished the  Kane  County  Advertiser,  which  is  still  in 
existence. 

The  Prairie  Messenger  was  published  in  St.  Charles 
in  1846. 

KNOX  COUNTY. 

The  Knox  Intelligencer  was  commenced  at  Gales- 
burg,  by  Charles  R.  Fisk,  in  1848. 

The  Northwestern  Gazeteer,  by  Southwick  Davis, 
was  commenced  at  Galesburg  in  1849. 


24  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 


LAKE   COUNTY. 

We  had  gained  considerable  information  regarding 
the  newspapers  of  this  county,  but  are  constrained  to  omit 
it  from  the  fact  that  a  distinguished  member  of  this 
Society  —  a  resideht  of  Waukegan  —  has  promised  to 
furnish  a  complete  history  of  the  Lake  County  Press, 
which  will  be  far  more  interesting  than  the  brief  memo- 
randa we  could  furnish. 

LA  SALLE    COUNTY. 

The  Genius  of  Liberty  was  commenced  at  Lowell, 
in  January,  1841,  by  Hooper  Warren  and  Z.  Eastman. 

MADISON   COUNTY. 

We  have  alrea^yr  noticed  the  establishment  of  the 
Ed-wardsville  Spectator,  Xh&  third  paper  in  Illinois,  by 
Hooper  Warren,  in  P'8i9,  and  will  briefly  relate  the  facts 

^    m  our  possession   concerning  subsequent  enterprises  in 
Madison  County. 
J  The  Star  of  the  West  was  started  at  Edwardsville,  by 

.'  Miller  &  Stine,  September  14,  1822.  Six  months  later  — 
April  12,  1823 — they  sold  out  to  Thomas  J.  McGuire  & 
Co.,  by  whom  the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to 
Illinois  Republican,  and  continued  till  August  i,  1824. 
The  late  Judge  Smith  and  Emanuel  J.  West  were  the 
leading  editors  of  the  latter.  This  paper  advocated  the 
call  for  the  State  Convention  to  legalize  slavery,  to  which 
the  Spectator  was  opposed. 

A  paper  called  the  Illinois  Corrector  was  commenced 
at  Edwardsville   in    1828,  by  R.  K.  Fleming,  who  had 


J. 


First  Newspaper  in  Alton.  25 

previously  printed  at  Kaskaskia  the  Republican  Advocate, 
begun  in  1823. 

The  Crisis,  by  Samuel  S.  Brooks,  was  issued  at 
Edwardsville,  on  the  3rd  of  April,  1830.  Thirty-four 
numbers  were  published,  when  it  was  followed  by  the 

Illinois  Advocate,  also  by  Mr.  Brooks  and  at  the  same 
place.  Mr.  Brooks  issued  eighteen  numbers,  when  the 
establishment  went  into  the  hands  of  John  York  Sawyer, 
who  soon  afterward  associated  with  him  Mr.  J.  Ange- 
vine.  Afterward,  Mr.  Angevine  retired,  and  Mr.  William 
Peach  became  a  partner,  but  subsequently  retired  from 
the  concern.  Judge  Sawyer,  having  been  elected  State 
Printer,  removed  to  Vandalia,  the  seat  of  government,  in 
December,  1832. 

The  Alton  Spectator,  the  first  newspaper  in  that  town, 
was  established  at  Upper  Alton  by  Edward  Breath  (who, 
in  1 86 1  and  for  many  years  previous,  resided  in  Oroomiah, 
Persia),  about  the  month  of  January,  1832,  and  removed 
to  Lower  Alton  (now  Alton  City)  October  10,  1832. 
Mr.  Breath  afterward  sold  the  concern  to  J.  T.  Hudson, 
who  was  proprietor  of  it  at  some  time  in  1836.  "  From 
June  24  to  November  25,  1836,  it  was  '  printed  weekly'  by 
W.  A.  Beatty  (afterward  connected  with  the  Telegraph) . 
Eight  numbers  were  then  'printed  weekly'  by  D.  Ward. 
From  February  10  to  October  19,  1837,  it  was  published 
by  William  Hessin  and  Seth  T.  Sawyer.  From  October 
26,  1837,  to  February  15,  1838,  and  perhaps  longer,  it 
was  printed  by  William  Hessin.  In  December,  1838,  it 
was  published  by  J.  Clark  Virgin." 

On  the  15  th  of  January,  1836,  the  first  number  of  the 
Alton  Telegraph  was  issued  by  Richard  M.  Treadway 
4 


26  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

and  Lawson  A.  Parks,  both  of  whom  had  previously  been 
engaged  in  the  publication  of  the  Evening  Herald,  the 
first  daily  paper  ever  issued  in  St.  Louis.  The  Telegraph 
was  a  warm  supporter  of  the  Whig  party,  and  advocated 
the  claims  of  Hugh  L.  White,  of  Tennessee,  for  the 
Presidency.  Finding,  however,  that  William  H.  Harrison 
was  the  first  choice  of  the  Whigs  of  Illinois,  it  fell  in  with 
the  current  of  popular  feeling,  and  urged  the  union  of  the 
party  strength  upon  him.  The  Democrats  in  that  canvass 
supported  and  succeeded  in  electing  Martin  Van  Buren. 
In  the  spring  of  1836,  Samuel  G.  Bailey  became  a  partner 
in  the  Telegraph  establishment.  During  the  fall  of  that 
year  arose  the  great  excitement  consequent  upon  John 
Quincy  Adams'  contest  in  Congress  in  favor  of  the  right 
of  petition;  and  Mr.  Parks  now  boasts  that  the  Telegraph 
was  at  that  time  the  only  paper  west  of  Cincinnati  which 
supported  Mr.  Adams  in  that  struggle.  During  the  first 
year  of  its  publication,  the  paper  was  a  profitable  one,  and 
exerted  a  wide  influence,  having  subscribers  from  Cairo 
to  Galena.  On  the  8th  of  January,  1837 — just  one  year 
after  his  arrival  in  Alton  —  Mr.  Treadway  died.  Mr. 
Parks  soon  after  purchased  Mr.  Bailey's  interest,  and  con- 
ducted the  paper  alone  until  the  May  following,  when  the 
late  Judge  Bailhache  purchased  one-half  of  the  establish- 
ment, and  assumed  the  exclusive  editorial  control  of  the 
paper.  The  crash  of  '37  and  the  murder  of  Lovejoy  in 
the  same  year  nearly  gave  a  death-blow  to  the  prosperity 
of  Alton,  and  of  course  greatly  diminished  the  receipts  of 
its  newspapers,  and  the  Telegraph  sunk  money.  In  the 
spring  of  1838,  Mr.  Parks  sold  out  his  interest  to  Judge 
Bailhache,  who,   after  publishing  the  paper  alone   for  a 


The  Alton    Telegraph.  27 

short  time,  associated  with  him  Mr.  S.  R.  Dolbee.  In  the 
year  1840,  Mr.  W.  A.  Beatty  formed  a  connection  with 
Messrs.  Bailhache  and  Dolbee,  in  the  publication  of  the 
paper,  but  soon  after  died,  and  the  old  proprietors  carried 
it  on  as  before.  In  the  year  1841,  G.  T.  M.  Davis,  Esq., 
was  employed  as  principal  editor,  and  held  that  position 
for  four  or  five  years.  In  1849,  Mr.  Dolbee  withdrew 
from  the  firm,  and  was  succeeded  by  W.  H.  Bailhache,  a 
son  of  Judge  B.  In  1852,  Mr.  E.  L.  Baker  was  associated 
in  the  editorial  management  of  the  paper,  and  soon  after 
purchased  an  interest,  after  which  the  firm  was  known  as 
J.  Bailhache  &  Co.  Previous  to  this,  however,  a  tri- 
weekly had  been  commenced.  In  the  same  year,  arrange- 
ments were  commenced  for  the  issue  of  the  Daily  Alton 
Courier,  but  before  they  were  completed,  the  Telegraph 
came  out  as  a  daily.  In  July,  1854,  Mr.  Parks  purchased 
Judge  Bailhache's  interest  in  the  paper,  which  from  that 
time  to  May,  1855,  was  published  by  Messrs.  Parks, 
Baker  and  W.  H.  Bailhache,  under  the  style  of  E.  L. 
Baker  &  Co.  The  Kansas-Nebraska  issue  broke  up  old 
partisan  associations  and  caused  the  formation  of  new 
ones,  and  the  Telegraph  and  the  Courier  both  advocated 
the  fortunes  of  the  Republican  party.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  subscription  and  good-will  of  the 
Telegraph  were  sold  to  George  T.  Brown,  proprietor  of 
the  Courier.  From  that  time  until  about  the  loth  of 
January,  1861,  it  was  published  as  a  part  of  and  under  the 
title  of  the  Courier.  The  latter  having  died  out,  the 
Telegraph  was  revived  on  the  13th  of  March,  1861,  by 
Mr.   Parks,   John   T.   Becm,   S.  V.   Crossman   and    Benj. 


28  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

Teasdale,  under  the  name  of  L.  A.  Parks  &  Co.  The 
Telegraph  is  still  published  daily  and  weekly. 

Judge  Bailhache  was  a  native  of  Jersey,  one  of  the 
islands  in  the  British  Channel,  but  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  at  an  early  age.  He  occupied  the  station 
of  a  public  journalist  in  Ohio  for  more  than  thirty  years, 
and  was  connected  with  the  Alton  Telegraph  about 
seventeen  years.  The  venerable  George  Churchill  says 
of  him,  that  "  as  a  gentleman,  a  printer,  and  an  editor,  he 
was  of  the  old  school."     He  died  at  Alton,  September  2, 

1857. 

The  Illinois  Temperance  Herald,  monthly,  by  A.W. 

Corey,  was  commenced  at  Alton,  in  1836,  and.  continued 
for  several  years. 

The  Western  Pioneer  and  Baptist  Standard  Bearer, 
which  had  formerly  been  published  at  Rock  Spring,  St. 
Clair  County,  appeared  at  Upper  Alton,  July  7,  1836, 
enlarged  to  almost  twice  its  former  size,  and  published 
weekly,  by  A.  Smith  &  Co.;  Rev.  J.  M.  Peck,  editor. 
In  September,  1837,  the  name  was  abridged  to  Western 
'Pioneer,  and  Rev.  Messrs.  E.  Rodgers  and  W.  Leverett 
added  to  the  editorial  staff.  Rev.  John  Mason  Peck  was 
the  author  of  the  "  Western  Annals,"  a  valuable  historical 
work,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  the 
State,  in  its  early  days. 

We  come  now  to  the  saddest  part  of  our  record.  In 
1836,  Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  editor  of  the  Observer,  a 
religious  paper,  made  himself  obnoxious  to  the  citizens 
of  St.  Louis,  by  his  denunciations  of  slavery.  To  avoid 
trouble,  he  was  induced  to  remove  his  paper  to  Alton, 
where  his  press  and  materials  arrived  on  Sunday  after- 


Murder  of  Lovejoy.  29 

noon,  July  21.  Between  two  and  three  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  the  press  was  destroyed.  A  public  meeting 
held  on  the  same  day  denounced  the  outrage,  and  the 
citizens  voluntarily  pledged  themselves  to  make  good  the 
loss  occasioned  by  it.  The  friends  of  the  paper  deter- 
mined that  it  should  not  be  "  so  crushed  out,"  and 
materials  for  a  new  printing  office  were,  without  delay, 
procured  from  Cincinnati.  On  the  8th  of  September, 
Mr.  Lovejoy  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Alton 
Observer,  and  it  continued  to  be  regularly  issued  until 
the  17th  of  August,  1837,  when  it  again  became  the 
object  of  the  wrath  of  the  mob.  On  the  nth  of  July,  a 
public  meeting  was  held,  in  which  the  Observer  and  its 
editor  were  denounced  for  disseminating  "  Abolition " 
doctrines.  A  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose 
waited  upon  Mr.  Lovejoy  to  learn  if  it  was  his  intention 
to  continue  such  publication,  and  received  a  reply  in  the 
affirmative.  Threats  of  violence  were  then  freely  made, 
and  on  the  night  of  the  21st  of  August  the  office  was 
entered,  and  press,  type,  and  everything  else  destroyed. 
Providentially,  the  editor  himself  escaped  rough  treatment 
from  the  mob.  Soon  afterward,  another  meeting  of  the 
friends  of  the  Observer  resolved  that  the  paper  should  go 
on,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  again  purchased  a  new  outfit.  On 
the  nth  of  September  he  offered  to  withdraw  from  the 
paper,  but  his  friends  would  not  permit  it.  Ten  days 
later,  the  third  press  arrived,  and  on  the  same  night  was 
destroyed  and  thrown  in  the  river,  and  gross  outrages 
upon  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  his  family  were  perpetrated. 
*  *  *  To  cut  the  story  short,  in  October  Mr.  Lovejoy 
sent  for  the  fourth   press,  which   arrived   on   the    7th  of 


30  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

November  and  was  stored  in  a  warehouse.  The  occur- 
rences of  that  night  are  matters  of  history.  An  attack 
upon  the  press  was  made,  and  in  the  melee  one  of  the 
rioters  was  killed  and  several  were  wounded.  Mr.  Love- 
joy  himself  was  shot  dead  while  defending  his  property, 
and  several  of  his  friends  were  severely  wounded.  This, 
of  course,  extinguished  the  Observer,  the  printing  materials 
of  which  were  destroyed  by  the  mob.  The  fair  fame  of 
the  city  of  Alton  has  even  yet  hardly  recovered  from  the 
blow  it  received  in  these  disgraceful  riots,  and  we  can 
readily  appreciate  the  meaning  of  the  declaration  made 
by  Hon.  Owen  Lovejoy  on  the  floor  of  the  National  House 
of  Representatives,  while  denouncing  the  advocates  and 
apologists  of  slavery:  "  Twenty  years  ago,  you  murdered 
my  brother  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  I  am  here 
to-day  to  avenge  his  blood!" 

The  Western  Weekly  Mirror,  by  James  Ruggles,  was 
published  at  Edwardsville  in  1839. 

The  Sovereign  People,  by  James  Ruggles,  was  com- 
menced at  Edwardsville  in  March,  1840. 

Afterward,  a  son  of  Mr.  Ruggles  published  at 
Edwardsville  the  Madison  County  Record.^ 

The  Sucker,  printed  by  Parks  &  Beaty,  and  edited  by 
"  Ourselves,"  was  published  at  Alton  in  1840.  Who 
"  Ourselves  "  were  we  are  unable  to  say. 

The  Alton  Presbytery  Reporter,  in  pamphlet  form, 
published  at  first  every  other  month,  and  latterly  pub- 
lished monthly — edited  by  Rev.  A.  T.  Norton  and  printed 
by  L.  A.  Parks  —  was  commenced  in  1852  or  earlier. 
In  i860  it  was  removed  to  Chicago. 


Madison   County.  3 1 

The  Alton  Courier — daily,  tri-weekly  and  weekly  — 
was  commenced  in  May,  1852,  by  George  T.  Brown, 
John  Fitch,  and  James  Gamble,  as  a  Democratic  organ. 
In  the  excitement  growing  out  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  it  became  a  Republican  journal.  In 
1855,  the  subscription  and  good- will  of  the  Telegraph 
were  transferred  to  the  Courier.  In  January,  i860,  Mr. 
Brown  sold  the  paper  to  B.  J.  F.  Hanna  and  S.  V.  Cross- 
man,  who  published  it  until  the  17th  of  January,  1861, 
when  it  was  discontinued. 

The  Madison  Enquirer  was  commenced  at  Edwards- 
ville  by  Theodore  Ferry,  in  1853. 

The  Alton  National  Democrat  was  commenced  July 
13,  1855,  by  John  Fitch  and  George  M.  Thompson  —  the 
former  as  editor  and  the  latter  as  publisher.  The  paper 
was  continued  by  Mr.  Fitch  until  June,  i860,  when  the 
building,  type  and  fixtures  were  destroyed  by  the  terrible 
tornado  which  visited  Alton  at  that  time,  and  the  paper 
was  thereupon  discontinued. 

The  Daily  Evening  Democrat  —  probably  another 
edition  of  the  foregoing  —  was  commenced  by  J.  &  T.  S. 
Fitch  about  the  ist  of  January,  1858. 

The  Weekly  Alton  Telegraph  was  published  in  1858 
as  a  campaign  paper  by  Messrs.  Parks  «&  Ennis  —  Mr. 
Parks  being  the  political  editor. 

The  Madison  Advertiser  v^^s  commenced  at  Edwards- 
ville,  June  26,  1856,  by  James  R.  Brown,  who  issued  four 
numbers,  when  it  was  transferred  to  O.  C.  Dake.  After- 
ward, it  was  managed  by  Joseph  L.  Craft,  and  still  later 
by  W.  G.  Pinckard,  Jr.,  as  publisher,  and  Hon.  Joseph 
Gillespie,  as  editor. 


rx 


32  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

The  Madison  Weekly  Press  was,  in  1861,  published 
at  Edwardsville  by  Theodore  /erry.  0UaJ\^ 

The  Alton  National  Democrat  —  daily  and  weekly  — 
was  commenced  on  the  loth  of  July,  i860,  as  a  Douglas- 
Democratic  organ,  by  R.  P.  Tansey. 

The  Ladies'  Pearl,  a  monthly  magazine,  was  pub- 
lished at  Alton  in  1861,  by  Messrs.  Logan  &  Brown. 

MARSHALL  COUNTY. 

The  first  paper  established  in  Marshall  County  was 
in  1838,  while  it  was  a  part  of  Putnam,  by  Allen  N.  Ford, 
as  a  Whig  journal.  It  was  entitled  the  Illinois  Herald. 
It  underwent  some  changes,  and  was  once  transferred; 
but  in  1861  it  was  conducted  by  its  original  proprietor, 
under  the  name  of  the  Illinois  Gazette,  with  the  addition 
of  Henry  Miller  in  the  editorial  department. 

In  1 86 1,  the  Lacon  Intelligencer  was  published  at 
Lacon,  the  county  seat. 

The  Marshall  County  Courier,  by  Robert  H.  Rug- 
gles,  was  established  on  a  small  sheet,  in  Henry,  December 
23,  1852;  changed  to  Henry  Courier,  February  14,  1854; 
enlarged  to  the  usual  size  of  country  newspapers,  and 
changed  to  Henry  Weekly  Courier,  January  7,  1857. 
B.  F.  Perley,  a  lawyer  of  Henry,  was  assistant  editor  from 
1856  to  1861,  and  perhaps  later. 

MONTGOMERY    COUNTY. 

The  Prairie  Beacon,  edited  by  Charles  Clapp  and 
printed  by  David  S.  Hobart,  was  commenced  at  Hillsboro 
in  1839. 


The  Rock  River  Register.  t^t, 

MORGAN    COtJNTY. 

Liberty's  Sentinel — W.  H.  Coyle,  editor,  and  J.  B. 
Fulks,    publisher — was    commenced  at  Jacksonville    in 

1835- 

OGLE    COUNTY. 

The  initial  number  of  the  Rock  River  Register,  the 
earliest  newspaper  in  this  county,  was  issued  on  the  ist 
day   of  January,   1842,    at   Mount   Morris,   by  Jonathan 
Knodle,  an  elderly  gentleman,  then  recently  from  Mary- 
land.     Mr.  Knodle  was  a  cabinet-maker    by  trade,  and 
was  employed  to  superintend  the  business  department  of 
the    undertaking.      The    paper  was    established    by    the 
friends  of  Rock  River  Seminary,  among  whom  the  most 
active  were   Rev.  T.   S.  Hitt  (father  of  R.  R.  Hitt,   of 
Chicago)  and  his  brother,  Samuel  M.  Hitt,  Esq.,  both  of 
whom  contributed  liberally  of  their  means,  guaranteed  the 
support  of  the  paper,  and  subscribed  for  a  large  number 
of  copies.     They  and  the  other  friends  of  the  enterprise 
were  interested  largely  in  the  lands  in  that  section,  and 
wished  to  have  a  newspaper  in  the   community  for  the 
purpose  of  making  known  the  advantages  of  the  county, 
and  especially  the  inducements  offered  by  the  Seminary, 
which  then  promised  to  become  a  flourishing  and  exten- 
sive institution.     Emanuel  Knodle,  the  first  editor,   had 
previously   been    connected    with    the    Odd    Fellow,  at 
Boonsboro,  Md.     He  was  a  young  man  of  good   talent 
and  much  amiability  of  character,  but  possessed  hardly 
the  energy  requisite  to  success  in  a  new  country,  which 
might  have  been  owing  to  his  constant  ill  health.     As  a 


34  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

writer  he  displayed  considerable  humor  and  vivacity. 
He  was  a  pale,  sickly  man,  and  the  twelfth  issue  of  the 
paper  announced  his  death,  in  the  thirty-second  year  of 
his  age.  The  same  issue  of  the  paper  bore  the  names  of 
Knodle  &  Stephens  as  publishers.  The  latter  was  one  of 
the  first  compositors  on  the  paper,  and  is  now  residing  at 
Mount  Morris,  where  he  is  practicing  medicine.  Emanuel 
Knodle  was  succeeded  as  editor,  in  April,  by  D.  C. 
Dunbar,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  —  a  young  man  of 
pleasant  personal  appearance,  much  intellectual  culture, 
talent,  and  gentlemanly  manners.  On  the  7th  of  October, 
his  death,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  was  announced. 
On  the  loth  of  July,  the  Register  abandoned  its  neutral 
position,  and  hoisted  the  Whig  flag,  headed  with  the  name 
of  Joseph  Duncan  for  Governor,  in  opposition  to  Judge 
Ford,  the  Democratic  candidate,  then  a  resident  of  Ogle 
County.  Under  this  banner  it  fought  the  partisan  battle 
with  peculiar  vigor  and  acrimony.  In  September,  the 
paper  was  removed  to  Grand  Detour,  twelve  miles 
distant,  in  order  to  secure  better  mail  facilities.  In  the 
issue  of  the  Register  for  May  10,  1843,  we  find  the  names 
of  Charles  H.  Lamb  and  A.  G.  Henderson  as  proprietors. 
In  July  following,  Mr.  Henderson  withdrew  from  the 
concern,  leaving  Mr.  Lamb  in  sole  charge.  The  issue  of 
the  Register  (or  August  25,  1843,  is  the  latest  of  which  a 
copy  is  now  in  existence,  and  the  paper  probably  survived 
but  a  short  time  thereafter. 

We  have  seen  No.  7,  Vol.  I,  of  the  Illinois  Tribune, 
dated  at  Grand  Detour,  December  26,  1844,  and  published 
by  John  W.  Sweetland.  We  are  unable  to  give  any 
further  intelligence  respecting  this   paper,  but,  from   its 


Ogle  County.  35 

typographical  appearance,  suppose  it  to  be  the  Register's 
successor. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1856,  the  Polo  Sentinel,  the 
first  Democratic  newspaper  published  in  Ogle  County, 
was  commenced  by  F.  O.  Austin.  It  lived  but  about 
three  months. 

In  June,  1857,  the  Polo  Transcript  was  commenced 
by  Chas.  Meigs,  Jr.,  the  press  and  materials  being  owned 
by  citizens  of  the  town.  Mr.  Meigs  published  the  Tran- 
script until  about  the  ist  of  April,  1858,  and  soon  after 
the  materials  were  sold  to  Henry  R,  Boss,  who,  on  the 
6th  of  May,  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Polo  Weekly 
Advertiser.  The  writer  continued  to  publish  the  Adver- 
tiser untW  the  22nd  of  November,  i860,  when  he  sold  the 
materials  to  Morton  D.  Swift,  who,  a  few  months  after- 
ward, consolidated  it  with  the  Rock  River  Press,  which 
was  removed  to  Polo  from  Mt.  Morris  —  the  consolidated 
concern  being  published  by  Swift  &  Dopf.  The  three 
preceding  journals  were  Republican  in  politics. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1858,  Richard  P.  Redfield,  pub- 
lisher for  a  joint  stock  company,  issued  the  first  number 
of  the  Ogle  County  Banner,  a  Democratic  journal.  In 
January,  1859,  Mr,  Redfield  purchased  the  materials,  and 
ran  the  paper  for  a  few  months.  Subsequently  it  was 
published  by  James  M.  Williams,  and  then  by  George  D. 
Read,  Postmaster.     It  died  in  i860. 

The  Mt.  Morris  Gazette  was  established  in  April, 
1850.  It  was  published  by  J.  F.  Grosh,  and  edited  by  D. 
J.  Pinckney.  The  second  volume  bears  the  names  of 
Brayton,  Baker  &  Co.,  as  publishers,  and  Prof.  Pinckney 
as  editor.     The  latter  is  now  a  member  of  the  State  Sen- 


36  Early  Newspapers  in  Illiiiois. 

ate,  and  has  for  a  long  time  been  identified  with  the  pros- 
perity of  Ogle  County.  Though  published  at  Mt.  Morris, 
the  Gazette  was  printed  elsewhere,  probably  at  Oregon, 
the  county  seat. 

The  Northivestern  Republican  was  commenced  at 
Mt.  Morris  in  1855,  by  Atwood  &  Williams.  About 
1856,  it  was  purchased  by  Myron  S.  Barnes,  who  changed 
the  name  to  the  Independent  Watchman,  and  continued 
it  for  several  years.  Col.  Barnes  commanded  an  Illinois 
regiment  at  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  and  for  some  time 
after  the  close  of  the  rebellion  edited  and  published  the 
Rock  Island  Daily  Union. 

The  Ogle  County  Gazette  was  commenced  at  Ore- 
gon, the  county  seat,  in  May,  185 1,  by  R.  C.  Burchell, 
afterward  State's  Attorney.  The  materials  used  were  the 
same  employed  on  the  first  volume  of  the  Mt.  Morris 
Gazette.  At  the  close  of  the  first  volume,  Mr.  Burchell 
changed  the  name  of  his  paper  to  Ogle  County  Reporter, 
a  name  it  still  bears,  notwithstanding  many  changes  of 
editors  and  proprietors.  It  is  now  published  by  Morti- 
mer W.  Smith. 

The  Lane  Leader,  the  first  paper  published  in  Ogle 
County  east  of  Rock  River,  was  commenced  at  Lane 
(now  Rochelle),  on  the  ist  of  October,  1858,  by  John  R. 
Howlett,  now  or  recently  publishing  a  journal  at  Lanark, 
Carroll  County. 

PEORIA    COUNTY. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1834,  the  initial  number  of  the 
Illinois  Champion,  the  first  newspaper  in  the  county, 
was  issued  by  Abraham  L.  Buxton  and  Henry  Wolford. 


Randolph  County.  37 

Mr.  Buxton  had  formerly  been  a  partner  with  George  D. 
Prentice,  of  the  Louisville  yournal,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  a  writer  of  much  ability.  He  soon  became  a  prey 
to  consumption,  and  died  in  Peoria.  Mr.  Wolford,  who 
was  a  practical  printer,  shortly  after  Mr.  B.'s  death,  dis- 
posed of  the  office  to  Messrs.  Armstrong  &  Shewalter, 
and  removed  to  Louisville,  Ky.  In  1837,  Samuel  H. 
Davis  purchased  the  Champion  office,  and  merged  it  in 
the  Peoria  Register  and  Northwestern  Gazetteer,  which 
he  continued  for  five  years,  or  longer.  Like  his  prede- 
cessor, Mr.  Buxton,  he  was  a  man  of  considerable  ability, 
and  is  said  to  have  produced  an  interesting  and  valuable 
newspaper. 

RANDOLPH  COUNTY. 

We  have  already  given,  iti  extenso,  the  history  of  the 
Illinois  Intelli gencer,  the  first  newspaper  in  Randolph 
County,  or  Illinois.  We  have  but  few  notes  to  add 
respecting  the  press  in  this  county. 

The  Republican  Advocate  was  commenced  at  Kas- 
kaskia  in  January,  1823,  by  R.  K.  Fleming. 

The  Kaskaskia  Republican  was  commenced  in  the 
same  year,  at  the  same  place. 

In  1832,  the  Randolph  Free  Press  was  published  at 
Kaskaskia,  by  R.  K.  Fleming. 

SANGAMON    COUNTY. 

The  Sangamo  Spectator  was  established  at  Spring- 
field, by  Hooper  Warren,  the  first  number  being  issued 
Feb.  27,   1827,  it  being  the  first  enterprise  of  the  kind 


38  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

north  of  Edwardsville  and  Vandalia.  Mr,  Warren  con- 
tinued the  publication  for  one  year,  when  he  transferred  it 
to  Samuel  C.  Meredith. 

The  Illinois  Courier  was  commenced  in  1829,  by 
Mr.  Meredith. 

The  Sangamo  "Journal  was  established  in  183 1,  by 
Simeon  W.  and  Josiah  Francis.  Afterward,  Josiah  Fran- 
cis retired,  and  the  Journal  was  conducted  by  Simeon 
Francis  alone.  J.  Newton  Francis  and  Allen  Francis 
subsequently  became  associated  with  him.  In  July,  1855, 
the  establishment  was  purchased  by  W.  H.  Bailhache 
and  E.  L.  Baker,  formerly  of  the  Alton  Telegraph.  It  is 
now  known  as  the  Illinois  State  Journal. 

For  the  following  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Illinois 
State  Register  we  are  indebted  to  the  thoughtful  kind- 
ness of  Hon.  Charles  H.  Lanphier,  of  Springfield,  who 
writes  from  that  city,  under  date  of  January  9,  1870: 

"  The  Register  was  established  at  Vandalia,  the  first  number  being 
issued  on  the  12th  of  February,  1S36,  by  William  Walters,  who  had 
for  some  dozen  years  before  been  foreman  of  the  National  Intelli- 
gencer. At  the  date  mentioned,  another  paper  was  being  published 
in  Vandalia,  by  Judge  John  York  Sawyer,  called  the  Illinois  Advocate. 
Sawyer  died  a  few  months  after  the  establishment  of  the  Register.,  and 
both  concerns  were  merged  into  one,  and  called  the  Illinois  State 
Register  and  People's  Advocate.  Upon  the  removal  of  the  seat  of 
government,  in  1839,  the  Register  -wixs  moved  to  Springfield.  George 
R.  Weber  was  then  publishing  the  Democratic  paper  here,  called  the 
Illinois  Republican.  It  was  suspended  on  the  removal  of  the  Register 
here,  and  Weber  was  taken  into  partnership  with  Walters  in  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Register.,  the  People  s  Advocate  tail  being  dropped. 
The  first  issue  here  was  August  10,  1S39.  The  partnership  continued 
until  the  fall  of  1S45,  when  Weber  went  out,  Walters  continuing  the 
paper  alone,  until  the  call  for  volunteers  in  the  Mexican  war,  when  he 
went  into  Baker's  regiment  as  a  private,  and  marched  with  the  regi- 


SL  Clair  County.  39 

ment  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  was  met  with  a  Captain's  commission  as 
Captain  Commissary  in  the  reguhir  army.  A  few  weeks  after,  he  was 
taken  ill,  and  died  at  the  Planters'  House,  July,  1846.  On  leaving 
here,  the  paper  was  placed  in  charge  of  }'our  humble  servant,  as  editor, 
etc.  I  had  been  in  the  establishment  from  its  commencement,  as 
apprentice,  journeyman,  clerk,  or  anjthing  else  that  I  was  put  at. 
Upon  Walters'  death,  I  became  the  owner  of  the  paper,  which  I  con- 
ducted alone  until  June,  1847,  when  I  took  into  partnership  our  old 
friend,  George  Walker,  who  continued  with  me  until  January  I,  1858, 
he  having  sold  his  interest  to  Edward  Conner,  for  many  years  foreman 
-of  the  office.  Conner  remained  with  me  one  year,  and  drew  out, 
when  I  continued  alone  until  November,  1863,  selling  out  to  a  joint 
stock  company,  who  run  it  one  year  and  sold  out  to  the  present  pro- 
prietors, Messrs.  E.  L.  Merritt  &  Bro.  In  one  capacity  or  other  I  was 
in  the  establishment  from  its  foundation  until  November,  1863  —  nearly 
twenty-eight  years  —  and  have  been  thanking  the  Lord  every  day 
since,  for  my  release  from  the  drudgery  of  newspaper  life." 


ST.   CLAIR   COUNTY. 

The  Western  Neivs  was  commenced  at  Belleville  in 
1828,  by  Dr.  Joseph  Green. 

The  Pioneer  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  by 
Thos.  P.  Green,  was  commenced  at  Rock  Spring,  April 
24,  1829,  and  published  weekly  about  one  year.  In  1830 
and  1 83 1,  the  publication  was  continued  by  Rev.  John  M. 
Peck,  editor  and  publisher.  It  appeared  once  in  two 
weeks,  each  number  containing  eight  octavo  pages.  It 
took  the  name  of  The  Western  Pioneer. 

The  Western  Baptist,  under  the  same  supervision, 
was  published  about  the  same  time. 

The  Pioneer  and  Western  Baptist,  being  a  union  of 
the  two  last-named  papers,  was  cornmenced  June  15, 
183 1,  in  folio  form,  and  published  semi-monthly  by  Rev. 
J.  M.  Peck,  Ashford  Smith   being  the  printer.     On  the 


40  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

2nd  of  January,  1835,  the  name  was  abridged  to  the  Pio- 
neer, and  so  continued  till  the  establishment  was  removed 
to  Upper  Alton.     (See  "  Madison  County.") 

The  Representative  and  Belleville  News,  by  E.  S. 
Cropley,  was  commenced  in  1837,  at  Belleville. 

The  American  Bottom  Reporter  was  commenced  at 
Illinoistown,  by  Vital  Jarrott  &  Co.,  March  5,  1842. 

STEPHENSON    COUNTY. 

The  first  newspaper  in  this  county,  the  Prairie  Dem- 
ocrat, was  commenced  by  Stephen  D.  Carpenter,  at  Free- 
port,  on  the  7th  of  November,  1847.  In  this  undertaking, 
Mr.  C.  was  materially  assisted  by  Hon.  Thos.  J.  Turner, 
then  Member  of  Congress  from  that  district,  now  a  mem- 
ber of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention,  who,  to  en- 
able him  to  commence  operations,  advanced  four  hundred 
dollars  from  his  own  pocket,  and  used  his  influence  to 
raise  another  hundred  dollars  among  the  friends  of  the 
enterprise  throughout  the  county.  Mr.  Carpenter  had 
formerly  conducted  the  Free  Press,  at  Girard,  Pa.  He 
was  the  inventor  (and  patentee,  we  believe)  of  a  pump, 
from  whence  came  his  soubriquet  of  "  Pump"  Carpenter, 
by  which  he  is  familiarly  known  throughout  the  West. 
Mr.  Carpenter's  account  of  the  beginning  of  his  enter- 
prise is  so  characteristic  and  racy  that  we  cannot  forbear 
giving  it  in  his  own  words: 

"I  was  recommended  to  one  Thos. J.  Turner,  who  afterward  served 
a  term  in  Congi'ess,  as  a  leading  Democratic  politician,  and  at  nine  in 
evening  I  sought  him  out  at  his  office,  and  introduced  myself  by 
requesting  a  loan  of  four  hundred  dollars.  This  request,  by  an  entire 
stranger,  was  a  novel  introduction,  and  seemed  to  somewhat  jjuzzle 


Stephenson  Coufity.  41 

Mr.  T.,  who  inquired  the  object,  which  I  soon  unfolded.  He  tlien 
inquired  if  I  could  show  hiin  a  reference;  I  replied  tliat  I  had  a  very 
good  reference,  and  requested  him  to  look  at  wiyface,  as  good  enoug  h 
for  my  purpose.  (I  had  in  my  pocket  a  Very  flattering  '  document ' 
from  the  Hon.  James  Thompson,  M.  C,  of  Pa.,  but  as  I  had  great  con- 
fidence in  my  face,  I  chose  to  get  that  cashed  first,  if  I  could.)  This 
self-impromptu  introduction,  and  the  impudence  of  offering  my  face  as 
security,  as  Mr.  T.  has  often  remarked,  alone  secured  his  confidence. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  without  the  tedium  of  further  details,  that,  at  five 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  I  was  whirling  over  the  prairies,  in  the 
Chicago  stage,  homeward  bound,  with  the  loan  of  four  hundred  dollars 
in  gold  in  my  pockets,  never  having  been  asked  for  even  a  receipt  for 
the  same." 

Mr.  C.  continued  to  publish  the  Democrat  until 
October,  1850,  when  it  was  purchased  by  J.  O.  P.  Burn- 
side,  now  in  the  employ  of  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  who,  in  the  spring  of  1852,  sold  it  to 
George  Ordway.  Mr.  Ordway,  after  publishing  the 
paper  about  a  year,  sold  it  again  to  Mr.  Burnside,  who 
discontinued  the  Democrat  and  established  in  its  stead 
the  Freeport  Bulletin.  On  the  21st  of  September,  1854, 
F.  W.  S.  Brawley,  afterward  Postmaster  at  Freeport,  be- 
came the  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Bulletin',  and  on 
the  2 1st  of  December  following,  Charles  S.  Bagg,  who 
afterward  succeeded  Brawley  as  Postmaster,  became  a 
partner,  and  the  paper  was  published  by  Bagg  &  Brawley 
until  September  13,  1855,  when  the  latter  retired.  Mr. 
Bagg  published  it  until  March  i,  1857,  when  he  sold  the 
concern  to  W.  T.  Giles,  who  is  now  the  editor  and  pro- 
prietor. 

The  first  number  of  the  Freeport  Journal  was  issued 
in  October,  1848,  as  a  Whig  organ,  by  H.  G.  Grattan  and 
A.  McFadden.     In  1850,  the  latter  gentleman  disposed  of 
6 


42  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

his  interest  to  his  partner,  who,  in  April,  1851,  associated 
with  himself  the  late  Hiram  M.  Sheetz.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year,  Mr.  McFadden  again  became  a  partner,  pur- 
chasing Mr.  Grattan's  interest.  This  partnership  con- 
tinued until  April,  1853,  when  Mr.  Sheetz  became  the 
sole  proprietor.  In  April,  1856,  Mr.  Sheetz  sold  the 
paper  to  Charles  K.  Judson  and  Chas.  W.  McCluer,  both 
natives  of  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y.,  the  former  gradu- 
ating from  the  reportorial  corps  of  the  Albany  Evening 
yournal,  and  the  latter  from  the  devilship,  foremanship  and 
junior  proprietorship  of  the  Eredonia  Censor.  Judson  & 
McCluer  soon  established  a  Daily  yournal,  which  they 
continued  for  about  two  years.  In  1858,  Wm.  T.  Tinsley, 
from  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  became  a  partner,  but  after  a  few 
months  he  returned  to  Lyons,  where  he  purchased  the 
Lyons  Re-publican,  which  he  still  continues  to  publish. 
In  1861,  Mr.  Judson  became  Postmaster  at  Freeport,  still 
continuing  his  connection  with  the  yournal.  In  1866, 
Judson  &  McCluer  sold  the  concern,  which  they  had  made 
one  of  the  first  and  best  in  the  State  outside  of  Chicago,  to 
Bailey  &  Ankeny.  Mr.  Judson  returned  to  Chautauqua 
County,  where  he  divides  his  time  between  life  insurance, 
the  culture  of  grapes,  and  "  tending  post  office,"  while  Mr. 
McCluer  is  the  Manager  of  the  Chicago  Printing  Com- 
pany, and  was  the  first  Treasurer  of  this  Society.  The 
yournal  is  now  published  by  Gen.  S.  D.  Atkins,  who 
purchased  it,  a  few  months  since,  from  Jas.  S.  McCall. 

UNION    COUNTY. 

The  first  number  of  the  yonesboro  Gazette  and  South- 
ern Illinois  Reflector — published  by  Thomas  J.  Finley 


Uniofi  County.  43 

and  John  Evans,  and  edited  by  H.  E.  Hempstead  —  was 
issued  on  the  13th  of  September,  1849,  at  Jonesboro.  At 
that  time,  the  only  papers  in  Southern  Illinois  were  the 
Delta,  at  Cairo,  the  Reveille,  at  Chester,  and  the  Advo- 
cate, at  Shawneetown.  Each  of  these  papers  enjoyed  the 
legal  advertising  of  a  number  of  counties  besides  its  own, 
but  the  establishment  of  the  Gazette  in  a  central  position 
made  it  the  official  paper  for  Union,  Jackson,  Johnson, 
Pulaski  and  Massac  counties.  Some  three  months  later, 
the  Cairo  Delta  was  discontinued  and  the  office  removed 
to  Evansville,  Ind.,  which  added  Alexander  County  to  the 
above  list.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  are  told  that  it 
was  only  by  the  strictest  economy  that  the  paper  was 
made  to  pay  its  current  expenses  for  over  a  year,  and  the 
publishers  were  left  without  any  remuneration  whatever. 
Toward  the  close  of  1850,  Mr.  Evans  sold  his  interest  in 
the  office  to  F.  A.  McKenzie,  of  Tennessee,  and  the  paper 
was  continued  for  a  short  time  by  Finley  &  McKenzie, 
under  the  editorial  control  of  C.  G.  Simons.  Mr.  Finley 
disposed  of  his  half  to  Mr.  McKenzie,  and  the  paper  was 
published  a  year  by  that  gentleman.  Although  his  only 
assistants  in  the  office  were  two  boys  at  $5  per  month, 
the  concern  failed  to  prove  remunerative,  and  was  aban- 
doned by  Mr.  McKenzie,  when  it  again  passed  into  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Evans,  who  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  Simons,  then  editor,  and,  by  close  economy  on  their 
part,  the  paper  was  made  to  yield  a  moderate  return.  Mr. 
Simons,  becoming  deeply  engaged  in  the  business  of  his 
profession,  sold  his  portion  of  the  establishment  to  his 
partner,  who  again  became  sole  publisher.  The  paper 
passed  through  various  mutations  until  Jan.  i,  1857,  when 


44  Early  Newspapers  in  Illinois. 

A.  H.  Marschalk  became  connected  with  it,  under  whose 
control  the  paper  was  published  nearly  two  years.  At 
the  expiration  of  this  time,  the  office  passed  into  the  hands 
of  other  parties  —  Mr.  Marschalk  continuing  as  publisher, 
and  assuming  the  additional  duties  of  editor.  On  the  8th 
of  January,  1859,  the  Gazette  appeared  in  its  fourth  new 
dress,  the  result,  we  opine,  of  having,  the  previous  year, 
received  a  good  slice  of "  fat,"  in  the  shape  of  the  publi- 
cation of  the  Federal  laws.  On  the  ist  of  January,  i860, 
the  office  was  placed  under  the  control  of  James  Evans. 
The  Gazette  was  originally  started  as  a  neutral  paper,  but 
soon  espoused  the  cause  of  Democrac}'. 

The  Union  Democrat  was  commenced  at  Jonesboro, 
August  22,  i860,  by  A.  H.  Marschalk,  who  had  formerly 
been  publisher  of  the  Gazette,  and  who,  by  the  way,  is  the 
youngest  son  oixh^  first  editor  and  publisher  in  what  we 
usually  term  the  Mississippi  Valley  —  Andrew  Marschalk. 
The  Democrat  was  removed  to  Anna  in  the  following 
November. 

The  Union  County  Record,  Republican,  was  com- 
menced at  Anna  (one  mile  east  of  Jonesboro),  in  April, 
i860,  by  W.  H.  Mitchell.  In  about  three  months,  Mr. 
Mitchell  retired  from  the  paper,  and  was  succeeded  by  N. 
W.  Fuller,  who  continued  its  publication  until  the  Presi- 
dential election  of  i860,  when  it  quietly  breathed  its  last. 

WINNEBAGO    COUNTY. 

The  first  paper  established  in  this  county  was  the 
Rock  River  Express,  commenced  at  Rockford,  May  5, 
1840,  by  B.  J.  Gray,  and  was  Whig  in  politics.  It  was 
published  just  a  year,  and  then  the  press  and  materials 
were  sold  and  taken  from  the  place. 


Wintiebago  County.  45 

The  RocTcford  Star,  Democratic  in  politics,  was  com- 
menced by  P.  Knappen,  in  August,  1840.  Tiie  next 
season  the  paper  ceased,  because  the  office  was  destroyed 
by  a  mob  on  account  of  the  editor  having  denounced  the 
lynching  of  the  Driskells,  in  Ogle  County. 

The  Rockford  Pilot,  Democratic,  commenced  July 
22,  1841,  succeeding  the  Star,  by  John  A.  Brown,  after- 
ward prominent  as  an  editor  at  Madison,  Wis.,  was  pub- 
lished till  October  of  the  following  year. 

During  a  portion  of  the  same  time,  the  Better  Cove- 
nant, an  Universalist  paper,  was  printed  at  the  Pilot  office, 
edited  by  Rev.  Seth  Barnes,  an  Universalist  clergyman. 

The  Winnebago  Forum,  Whig,  was  commenced  in 
February,  1843,  by  J.  Ambrose  Wight,  who  transferred 
it,  the  August  following,  to  Austin  Colton.  The  title  was 
afterward  changed  to  Rockford  Forum,  and  Mr.  Colton 
continued  its  publisher  for  nearly  eleven  years,  when  the 
establishment  was  purchased  by  E.  W.  Blaisdell,  Jr.,  in 
January,  1854,  and  the  name  of  the  paper  changed  to 
Rockford  Republican.  Mr.  Blaisdell  afterward  ad- 
mitted his  brother,  Richard  P.,  as  a  partner,  and  the 
twain  published  it,  we  believe,  till  it  was  merged  in  the 
Register,  in  1862.  The  senior  of  the  brothers  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1858,  and  served 
with  credit  to  himself  and  his  constituents,  being  chiefly 
distinguished  for  his  opposition  to  professional  money- 
lenders and  their  schemes. 

The  Rockford  Free  Press,  Freesoil  Democrat  in  pol- 
itics, was  commenced  in  October,  1848,  by  Henry  W. 
DePuy,  who  published  it  until  February,  1850,  when  it 
was  discontinued.     Mr.  DePuy  removed  to  New  York, 


46  Early  Ne-wspapers  in  Illinois. 

and  afterward  became  Private  Secretary  to  Gov.  Horatio 
Seymour.  He  was,  we  believe,  the  author  of  several 
works,  which,  at  the  time  of  their  issue,  had  an  extended 
popularity. 

The  Rock  River  Democrat  was  commenced  in  June, 
1852,  as  a  Democratic  paper,  by  Benjamin  Holt.  D.  T. 
Dickson  was  subsequently  admitted  as  a  partner  with  Mr. 
Holt,  and  still  later  Mr.  Holt  sold  his  interest  to  Mr.  R. 
A.  Bird.  At  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Republican 
party,  consequent  upon  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Ne- 
braska Bill,  the  Democrat  and  its  Whig  cotemporary,  the 
Republican,  espoused  the  cause  of  that  party.  Mr.  I.  S. 
Hyatt  afterward  became  proprietor  of  the  concern.  The 
Z>g/«ocra^  was  consolidated  with  the  Register  \n   1865. 

The  Spirit  Advocate,  a  monthly  issue,  advocating  the 
doctrines  of  the  Spiritualists,  was  published  in  1854  and 
1855,  printed  at  the  Republican  office.  Dr.  George 
Haskell  had  the  chief  supervision  of  this  sheet. 

The  Rockford  Register,  Republican  in  politics,  and 
issued  weekly,  was  established  in  February,  1855,  by  E. 
C.  Daugherty.  The  Daily  Register  was  issued  from  the 
same  office  during  the  summer  of  1859,  but  was  discon- 
tinued on  account  of  the  ill  health  of  the  publisher.  The 
Register,  in  June,  1865,  passed  into  the  hands  of  an  incor- 
porated company,  but  not  until  Mr.  Daugherty,  by  his 
unfailing  energy,  strict  probity  and  excellent  tact,  had 
made  it  one  of  the  most  remunerative  country  newspapers 
in  the  State.  At  this  time,  Mr.  I.  S.  Hyatt,  who  had 
previously  been  connected  with  the  paper  as  associate 
editor,  and  was  more  recently  editor  and  proprietor  of  the 
Rockford  Democrat,  became  the  principal   editor,  with 


yenny  yune  as  a  Reporter.  47 

E.  H.  Griggs  (now  President  of  the  Illinois  Press  Associ- 
ation) as  associate.  He  was  afterward  succeeded  by  Mr. 
Daugherty,  and  still  later  by  Mr.  Griggs,  who  is  now  the 
editor,  assisted  by  J.  E.  Fox.  Mr.  Daugherty  died  at 
Jacksonville,  Fla.,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1868. 

The  Rockford  Standard,  Douglas  Democrat,  was 
commenced  in  October,  1858,  by  Springsteen  &  Parks, 
the  latter  of  whom  had  been  an  assistant  editor  of  the 
Register.  The  ensuing  spring,  the  establishment  was 
purchased  by  D.  G.  Croly  &  Co.,  who  also  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  Daily  News  in  connection  with 
the  Weekly,  the  latter  retaining  its  party  character,  while 
the  former  professed  neutrality.  The  Dail}'  survived  till 
the  spring  of  i860  —  a  little  over  a  year.  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Croly — well  known  to  many  readers  as  "Jennie  June" — a 
handsome  and  accomplished  lady,  conducted  the  "Local" 
department  of  the  paper  in  a  successful  and  creditable 
manner.  After  the  discontinuance  of  the  Daily,  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Weekly  was  assumed  by  Messrs.  Grove 
&  Ticknor,  who  published  it  till  fall,  and  then  sold  out  to 
Fox,  Rowe  &  Co.,  who  resumed  the  publication  of  the 
Daily  and  changed  the  name  of  the  Weekly  to  Weekly 
News  —  both  claiming  neutrality.  In  1861,  the  News 
was  merged  in  the  Register. 

The  Rock  River  Mirror,  mainly  devoted  to  Insurance 
matters,  was  established  in  September,  1859,  by  Allen 
Gibson,  who  continued  to  publish  it  weekly  till  February, 
1861,  when  it  was  changed  to  a  monthly. 

All  the  above  newspapers  are  those  of  Rockford  alone. 

On  the  27th  of  May,  1857,  the  Rockton  Gazette  was 
commenced  at  Rockton  by  H.  W.  Phelps,  who  continued 


48  Early  Neivspapers  in  Illinois. 

its  publication  till  April  13,  1859,  when  he  removed  the 
press  and  materials  to  Burlington,  Racine  County,  Wis., 
and  established  the  Burlington  Gazette,  his  wife  being 
associated  with  him  in  the  management  of  the  paper. 
Mr.  Phelps  subsequently  removed  to  Horicon,  Wis., 
where  he  published  the  Horicon  Gazette. 

The  Pecatonica  Independent  was  commenced  at 
Pecatonica,  May  7,  1859,  by  J.  E.  Duncan.  In  the  can- 
vass of  i860,  it  supported  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  entire 
Republican  ticket. 

There  are  now  published  in  Rockford,  the  Register, 
by  the  Rockford  Register  Company;  the  Rockford  Ga- 
zette, established  in  1866,  and  published  by  A.  E.  Smith; 
the  Winnebago  County  Chief,  established  in  the  same 
year,  and  published  by  J.  P.  Irvine;  the  Golden  Censer, 
a  semi-monthly  Methodist  publication,  by  John  Lemley, 
and  Words  for  fesus,  monthly,  by  T.  J.  Lament. 

We  have  now  given  nearly  or  quite  all  the  facts  in  our 
possession  respecting  the  Newspaper  Press  of  Illinois. 
We  only  regret  that  time  and  space  will  not  permit  us  to 
go  more  into  detail  in  relation  to  some  portions  of  our 
subject;  and  we  fervently  hope  that  this  Society  will 
make  a  vigorous  effort,  seconded  by  the  hearty  co-opera- 
tion of  the  entire  editorial  fraternity,  to  secure  a  complete 
and  permanent  record  of  the  Press  of  the  State  and  the 
Northwest.  It  is  due  to  our  predecessors,  the  pioneer 
editors  and  printers,  to  ourselves,  and  to  our  posterity, 
that  this  should  be  done. 


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